In Domsjö near Örnsköldsvik, in the midst of the northern forests, lies the cradle of the Swedish chemical industry

Thanks for the encouragement to keep developing the bioeconomy!

Last week ended on a high note for me. For the second consecutive year I was acknowledged on the international web magazine Il Bioeconomista’s list of women who have contributed most to the evolution of the bioeconomy in the world.

It is a great honour to be named alongside so many internationally successful women, who in a multitude of ways contribute to developing the bioeconomy.

Both the acknowledgement itself, and all the congratulations I have received, have given me even more energy to continue what I work towards every day – to transition away from fossil fuels and achieve a sustainable society, as fast as possible.

The transition demands cooperation between many different actors. Many of the products that we surround ourselves with every day are made from fossil-based commodities like oil. But we can already produce these everyday products from sustainable and renewable commodities.

In Sweden for example, we have excellent conditions to be able to use forests to produce sustainable pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, plastic bags, nappies, toys and biofuels. The examples of products that can be produced already today, using sustainable commodities instead of oil, are plentiful. Almost everything that can be made from oil can be made from forests.

If we turn our eye to biofuels, a hotly debated subject right now, we have more than enough residue waste from already existing Swedish sawmilling industry to supply the Swedish domestic aviation sector with fuel.

For it to become reality we need more investments in plants that can produce large volumes of aviation fuel. The technology already exists – it is developed, tested and demonstrated by us at SEKAB. What we call CelluAPP®, is a technology platform making it possible to transform bi- or waste products using cellulose – a so called biomass – to produce renewable aviation fuel amongst other things. The licenced technology is available for actors that would like to build a bio refinery for instance.

SEKAB is in other words ready to contribute to a large-scale production of biofuels that can help achieve the European climate goals. Thanks to Il Bioeconomista and all the congratulations, I am now even more excited to continue my work to make this a reality.